kleroux

We want to book a room in Sept. at the new hotel that Air Morocco is building at the Casablanca Airport. I can't get any information on reservations. I have tried to contact "hospitality Atlas Morocco", and Atlas Hotel Nousseur..but nothing seems a valid address. I need an email address for reservations. Can anyone help me?

stafa

The only way to contact Atlas Hotels is by using this form:

http://www.hotelsatlas.com/contact.htm

kleroux

I've sent two emails to that address over the past 3 weeks and no one has answered. I called the number listed and the person didn't speak French or English. So I struck out there too. Any other idea's???

stafa

Relax, and get used to things the Moroccan way. Hardly anyone ever replies to emails.

It's not like that hotel is ever going to be booked 100 percent in September. Just show up and book a room.

kleroux

Good idea, except we are two women in our 60's arriving at midnight after a long day & night of travel from San Francisco. I'd prefer to know in advance where I'm going to sleep that night. Any other suggestions for booking them or getting info??

stafa

No, not until the airport hotel shows up in the reservation system of Hotelsatlas.com. That will happen before September, I suppose.

And please, don't interpret my advice to "relax" as scorning. What you must understand is that Morocco doesn't have the same efficiency as other countries. One thing I keep telling people who are about to visit Morocco for the first time, is to leave two things at home: logic and your watch. Western logic doesn't work in Morocco, and it's not a country that works on schedules.

You will at some point in your journey experience a completely incomprehensible glitch in your plans. Like a train that doesn't leave for any particular reason, or a bus that makes an unannounced stop for two hours somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I really hope you appreciate that this can make perfect sense in the Moroccan way of things, and you won't apply western rationale to such a situation. It would only make you angry, which won't solve anything. Just go with the flow, really, and accept things as they come, no matter how outrageous they appear to you.

Here's the two scenarios you should bring to Morocco.

Plan A: You arrive at Casablanca airport, check in to the Nouasseur hotel and have a good night's sleep.

If the hotel is fully booked, which I genuinely doubt will happen in September, here's

Plan B: Take a taxi (250 dirham, fixed price, non-negotiable, don't accept any stories why the price may be higher, it's 250 dirham per taxi at night) to the Hotel Ibis Moussafir at Casablanca Voyageurs train station. It's open all night and really conveniently located, less than a minute from the train station.

Also, Moroccans are extremely respectful of age. As a senior citizen, you will be treated with a lot of care and concern.

kleroux

Thank you for your help. I never did think you were being flip...I do understand that when one travels, one does so to experience new ways of doing things, not to duplicate what one has at home. I have no reason to believe that people in Morocco would be anything other than helpful to two women stranded at the airport at Midnight. But my friend has not traveled that much and wants to know exactly where she will sleep that first night. I have a reservation at the Hyatt, but would much prefer trying the new hotel which is Moroccan. I'll keep trying to reach them. I do have time on my side. Thanks again for your help............kls